Most state employees did not get their Oct. 1 pay raises

BATON ROUGE- More than 35,000 of Louisiana's rank-and-file classified employees received their favorable evaluations, but they're not getting their pay raises.

Officials at most state government agencies say they don't have the money and would have to lay off employees to grant the 4 percent salary increases.

The pay bumps were scheduled to take place Oct. 1, but a majority of the executive branch agencies, along with most colleges and universities, sought and received state Civil Service permission to withhold the extra money.

A Civil Service report says 96 percent of the 37,736 classified civil servants evaluated were rated "exceptional" or "successful" - the job performance ratings needed to be eligible for the annual pay raises. State workers got raises last year, the first in three years, for some.